Injuries and Rests....

Injury prone Munaf Patel is injured again. He missed India's 2nd ODI against Sri Lanka with a groin injury that is now going to take him out of the rest of the series. The flip side, though, is that Lakshmipathy Balaji has been brought into the national team after a gap of 3 years. Balaji has played 6 of his 8 test matches till date against Pakistan including the wonderful series in Pakistan in April 2004. Balaji took 12 wickets in that 3 match series at an average of 30.75. Only Kumble (15 @25.93) and Irfan Pathan (12 @28.50) had better records in both teams. He followed that up with 14 wickets @32.28 in the return 3 test series in India the following year. He last played an ODI against Sri Lanka back in August 2005, and his smiling face has been missing from Indian cricket ever since. Initially dropped after the Sri Lanka series, he then suffered a back strain that required surgery and a remodelling of his bowling action. A bowler who took his axeing & injuries in his stride has finally made a comeback. Hopefully, his performances from the Pakistan series will be evident again.

New Zealand's promising, but troubling, batman Jesse Ryder is out of the team once again; this time with an injury. Last month he missed an ODI against West Indies due to lack of training due to a hangover on the day before the match. In November, he contracted a mystery illness that kept him out of the test in Australia. All this after he only returned to the team in September after being injured for 6 to 7 months after punching his fist through a glass door in February 2008. New Zealand will be hoping that he returns soon and continues to make an impact like he did in his initial series.

Yet another promising but injury prone cricketer, Shoaib Akthar, has been injured again and will miss the tests against Sri Lanka. Apart from his numerous injuries, Akhtar's under-par performances have come under the microscope many times, most recently being a couple of weeks ago when the then Pakistan captain, Shoaib Malik, questioned his commitment to the team. So below par has been his performances in recent games that Waqar Younis has suggested he quit Test cricket and focus on ODIs and T20s. Recent omissions from the team include a calf injury in Abu Dhabi before the West Indies series and a 5 year ban (which has since been reduced to a fine) imposed by the PCB for violating the players' code of conduct.

In a rather more interesting turn of events, Australia's most-in-form batsman, captain Ricky Ponting, has been rested from the national team for the 2nd ODI against New Zealand. The resting could then be extended for the rest of the series as well. Was this a rest requested by the captain, or an indication by the selectors that the end of an entertaining career is at hand? Stay tuned.